


Chris Chow: 'Swawesome Emergency Goalie!

by lbswasp



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Emergency Goalie, Gen, Scott Foster - Freeform, Winnipeg Jets, injured hockey players, various Jets mentioned by name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 20:00:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14817930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lbswasp/pseuds/lbswasp
Summary: The Emergency Goalie is a guy who comes to the rink to be made available to either team, should they need a replacement goalie on the night if both goalies get hurt. He gets given tickets, watches the game from somewhere, and has his gear with him in case either team needs him.Sometimes, they do. And that’s how Chris Chow, community hockey goalie, made his NHL debut for the Providence Falconers.





	Chris Chow: 'Swawesome Emergency Goalie!

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Ice Crew Please!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6667822) by [rosepetals42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosepetals42/pseuds/rosepetals42). 



> Inspired by this line from [Ice Crew Please!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6667822/chapters/15250765): “the Falconers make the case that Chowder is good enough that they should be allowed to shoot without the passing rule.” and the existence of [Scott Foster](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG-IGNvfrg8), the emergency goalie who stepped in for Chicago and was awesome.
> 
> I’ve used names of real hockey players when I needed to for the Jets, as it was a Jets vs the Blackhawks game that Foster played. If you don’t know the Jets players don’t fret — this is mainly set in the Ice Crew Please! verse, the year after the Falconers won the Stanley Cup. Some names I’ve just plain made up.
> 
> Most of the saves described come from Marc Andre Fleury, because Flower is Best. I’ve decided that Snowy’s full name is Gerald Yetzy, which sounds like Yeti, which is how he got called Snowy...

They were already down a goalie when it happened. Snowy had pulled something while playing soccer as a warm up, so Mogilny had been put in the net for the game. They were up 6-2 with 14 minutes to go in the last period when one of the new kids on the Jets, Toporowski or something, had plowed into Moggy and pushed him and the net into the boards. 

 

(Later, Jack would re-watch the tape and realise it was very much an accident, but right now he’s just worried for his friend and teammate)

 

Moggy waved the stretcher away and Jack and Tater helped him off the ice before heading back to the bench, where they and the rest of the Falconers could take a short break while the emergency goalie was readied.

Jack looked over to the Ice Crew as they skated out to clean the ice, wondering if someone had told Chowder yet. Based on the fact that he could see Chowder cleaning the ice with Bitty, he guessed not.

Coach Murray tapped him on the helmet. “Captain. Go get our boy.”

Jack grinned, and headed back onto the ice. This was going to be fun.

“Hey, honey,” greeted Bitty as Jack glided to a stop beside him. “Not that I ain’t glad to see you, but what’re you doing over here? Shouldn’t you be with the boys?”

“Hey, Bits,” said Jack, leaning over to give his boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek — Bitty’s confusion was too adorable not to. “I’m not here to see you, not really. I’m here for Chowder.”

Chowder looked up from the ice he was scraping into his bucket. “For me? Why?”

Jack just stared at him. Surely Chowder remembered the conversation he’d had with George and the coaches after their usual third goalie, Scott Foster, had said he wanted to step down. He’d been their emergency goalie for over 5 years and had never been called on to play, but was aware he was getting a bit too old to step up for an NHL game, even in an emergency.

Since the Falconers who liked to play scrimmages against the Ice Crew had made the case that Chowder was good enough that they should be able to shoot goals on him without having to pass the puck five times before taking a shot on him, Tater, Snowy and Poots had all (apparently separately) gone to the coaches and suggested the Falconers use Chowder as an emergency goalie.

Chowder had been ecstatic about the possibility of playing for the Falconers (“Really? Me? Wow!”), and had dutifully brought his gear to every home game in case he was needed. So Jack was a little surprised that Chowder was still helping to clean the ice rather than warming up for his time in goal. Maybe, since it had been last season that they’d asked Chowder to be their emergency goalie, he’d forgotten? And was just in the habit of bringing his gear as a superstition?

“Snowy and Moggy are both out,” said Jack awkwardly, trying to gently remind his friend.

“Um, yeah?” said Chowder, still not getting it.

“Ohmygosh.” There, Bitty got it. “Chowder, you’re up.”

“I’m what?”

“You’re up! You’re the emergency goalie, remember?”

Chowder let out a squeak, his face showing clear surprise as his gaze swiveled between Jack and Bitty. 

“Come on, Chowder. Time to get warmed up.”

Bitty snatched the shovel from Chowder’s lax fingers. “Go! I’ll finish this! Go play in the NHL, Chowder!”

* * *

_“And for those of you just tuning in to tonight’s game, we’re about to see the NHL debut of Chris Chow, number 55, the emergency goalie for Faber Arena, after both Yetzy and Mogilny were injured — Gerald Yetzy in the pre-game warm up and Ivan Mogilny when Radovan Toporowski from the Jets collided with him just a few minutes ago in the third period.”_

_“That’s right Steve. Chow is one of the ice crew who work here at Faber — you know, Jack Zimmermann’s infamous ice crew. According to the small bio the Falconers have of the ice crew on their website, Chow was born in October 1996, and is originally from San Jose, California. He came to Providence for college and started working with the ice crew and plays as their goalie in their community hockey league.”_

_“When was his last game?”_

_“Apparently it was two weeks ago, against the Legal Eagles, a team of lawyers. Chow had a good game — the community hockey league’s standings show that he had a shutout against the lawyers.”_

_“So two weeks ago he was playing community hockey, and now he’s making his debut in the NHL. You can see the Jets all looking at each other as he exits the tunnel — who’s this guy?”_

_“Well, if he makes it through the next 14 minutes, I guess we’ll find out, eh?”_

* * *

Chowder’s grin behind his goalie mask looked so wide Jack was half concerned his face is going to split into two. The kid was fair vibrating as he emerged from the tunnel and reached the Falconers’ bench, where he was greeted with a roar of applause by the Falconers’. Poots reached over and nuzzled helmets with Chowder as he waddled past in his bulky gear, and Tater clapped him on the back hard enough that he nearly tripped over. 

Jack knew that Coaches Murray and Hall had already given Chowder a prep talk in the changing room, but Chowder is his friend. He wanted to be the last one to wish him luck as his friend steps onto the ice for his NHL debut.

“You’ve got this, Chowder,” he said as he clapped his hand around the back of Chowder’s helmet and brought their faces together. “You’re going to be ‘swawesome, eh?”

Chowder beamed at him and stepped onto the ice, giving the crowd a quick wave as he skated over to his goal, did a few last stretches, and dropped into position as the rest of the team skated onto the ice to take their places for the puck drop.

Jack would have been surprised at how serious the normally embulliant Chowder was being, but it’s hockey. Chowder has always been serious about hockey. It’s one of the reasons Jack likes him so much.

They settled back into the game, and the Jets won the faceoff. Seemingly thinking that Chowder is going to be an easy shot, Myers flicked a wrist shot at him almost immediately — only for Chowder to drop to his knees and stop the shot easily to an approving roar from the crowd. Jack skated over to clap Chowder on the back and his friend grinned at him. 

“Welcome to the NHL, Chowder!”

“‘Swawesome!” Chowder breathed, his face lighting up with glee as Jack helped him dust the ice off his pads. 

They won the next faceoff, but then Scheifele nipped the puck from under Jack’s nose and hurtled back towards Chowder. 

A year ago, Jack would have thought that having a 6 foot 3 NHL player barreling down the ice towards him would have made any community goalie flinch, but Chowder has been playing scrimmages against the Falconers for a while now. It’s helped him turn his already good goalie instincts into something pretty fucking spectacular.

So much so that when Scheifele passed to Poolman who shot wide of the net, Chowder didn’t even flinch, just calmly remained in the net, waiting for the puck to come close enough to him for him to need to react.

By the time Laine sent a wrist shot rocketing at him a few minutes later, Chowder had really warmed up and settled into the game, easily stopping the shot with his right pad.

Myers gave away the puck and the Falconers take several shots at the Jets’ goal, but Comrie stops all of them. Then the puck was back in the Falconers’ defensive zone and Copp lined up a backhand that Chowder stopped by dropping into a split, trapping the puck under his glove and saying “no! Bad puck!” (Jack was close enough to hear that and he’s going to chirp Chowder for days about that, just as soon as they win).

Jack’s line gets swapped out and he watches from the bench as Chowder stops a wrist shot from Byfuglien then doesn’t even get back to his feet before launching himself across the net to stop a shot from Stastny. The crowd roared their approval of the brilliant back-to-back saves from the emergency goalie.

“Where the hell’d you get him from?” growled Byfuglien as he skated past Jack when their lines next swapped.

“Oh, just the local community league,” chirped Jack with a grin as he hears sounds of “CHOW-DER! CHOW-DER! CHOW-DER!” starting to echo around the stadium. Looking around, Jack can see the Ice Crew pressed against the glass leading to the tunnel, holding hastily made “Go Chowder! 55!” “Swawesome Chowder!” signs up against the glass and leading the chant. Poots, still on the bench, grabs the whiteboard that is meant for the coaches off the back of the box and quickly scribbles something on it that Jack can’t see because he’s too far away.

When his shift is over and he’s back on the bench, the board gets thrust into his hands. He looks down to see Poots has written “Go Chowder Go!”. With a grin, Jack put his stick to the side and waved the board above his head, turning to help hype up the crowd. He knew he should be focusing on hockey, watching the Jets to see any weaknesses he can exploit when he’s next on the ice — the Falconers weren’t assured their playoffs spot yet and the Jets were on a 6 win streak — but he can’t be too concerned. The Falconers were up by 4 and Chowder has stopped everything that the increasingly baffled Jets have thrown at him. Even if the Jets managed to turn it around the last five minutes (which Jack doesn’t think they will at this stage), it’s like Marty said last year: some things are more important than hockey.

The energy of the crowd hypes Chowder up to no end, and as the clock ticked down he seemed more determined to stop the puck than ever before. Myers flicked a wrist shot which bounces of the pole behind Chowder, and before Jack has realised what has happened, Armia has picked up the puck and fired it at Chowder, who slaps it to the ground with his glove then twists so he’s lying over it as his momentum slides him into the net, making sure that while his helmet is over the line his hand, and therefore the puck, is not.

The siren for the end of the game sounds and Chowder wasn’t even fully back on his feet before the Falconers and the ice crew descended on him, piling on top of each other in glee. Chris Chow just played his first ever NHL game — and got a shutout.

* * *

_“And the number one star of the game, from the Providence Falconers, is number 55, Chris Chow!”_

The Falconers and even the Jets banged their sticks against the boards and roared along with the crowd as Chowder skated out to shake the official’s hands, his grin lighting up the stadium as he looked around at the standing ovation he’s getting.

“‘Swawesome!”

* * *

Jack made sure to get Chowder’s game day jersey framed and hung up at the Haus, where everyone could see it. 

(Bitty had wondered if Chowder wanted it in his dorm, but Chowder had vehemently disagreed, saying it belonged in the Haus. Jack started wondering if it was possible to build an extension onto the Haus so Chowder, Dex and Nursey could all move in)

A few days after the game, when the hangovers from the the post-game celebration kegster had finally disappeared, George pulled Chowder into her office for a chat.

A few months later, the day after his last final, Chris Chow was signed to the Falconers. 

Number 55 jerseys sold out almost immediately.


End file.
